Recruitment is changing, for the best?

A Recruiters’ reflections.

Let me introduce myself. I’m Crae, one of the Co-Founders of Thyme. We’re a small recruitment outfit based in the heart of London, focused on building product engineering teams for start-ups across London, Berlin & Stockholm. We’re fairly new, but as a collective we have over 15 years’ experience, so I’d like to think we know our stuff. 

Now I’ve worked for a couple of recruitment agencies… some good, some bad (I have to be honest!) and I quickly learnt that recruitment is a sales job. You’re probably thinking no sh*t, but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t make the connection. Simple fact, agency’s get paid when they place a candidate, and consultants receive commission for finding the candidate. 

So, what does a typical day look like at a Recruitment agency? Lol well, first of all, sales stats. Recruiters are OBSSESED with stats, or KPI’s…whatever you want to call it. And who can blame them, they’re monitored by stats daily. Some agencies are more relaxed than others, but like any KPI, the goal is to drive performance. A problem with this approach though, is that aggressive KPI’s can affect your ability to build proper relationships. If you’re on the receiving end of a KPI driven Recruiter, you’ll know what I’m talking about. 

Don’t get me wrong, persistence can seem effective. One of my old manager’s once said to me “Crae, you need to throw everything against the wall, and see what sticks”. So I did just that. I was the guy who called and called and called. I emailed, and constantly followed up. I had a degree of success in this. The same individual that ignored me, replied to my 3rd email. But did I get bad responses too? YES. Did people accuse me of spamming, oh yes. But I felt I had to, our lovely stats board was a constant reminder of why I needed to do it.  

But I’ve come to realise that it doesn’t just need to be about how many calls you make - the quality of those calls is what’s essential. Empathy is so important in Recruitment. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a tough market out there and the competition is high. But, when we started the company, we made a conscious effort to create a culture where we take time to understand people. I encourage my team to listen, respect people’s time, and be as tailored as humanly possible. Recruiters have a bad rep, but I’m noticing a shift in the industry to better practises that make the experience better for all involved. I’m proud of Thyme’s approach to Recruitment, and to be contributing to that.  

Like anyone else, I receive cold calls, spam emails, and people offer me jobs that don’t match up with my experience or interests. As much as it can be frustrating, I know the pressure from upstairs can be intense, so I don’t think calling them out on social media is the answer. Instead, I take it as a reminder of how not to sell 😀